Marvel is riding high as Captain America: The Winter Soldier breaks the previous April opening weekend record, bringing in $96.2 million all while the international total grows to $207.1 million. So, yes, after only one weekend in domestic release and two weekends worldwide, Winter Soldier is now only $63 million shy of Captain America: The First Avenger's worldwide total from 2011. The Avengers franchise is a monster!

If you were wondering, the previous April opening record was Fast Five with $86.1 million, which is to assume 3D and IMAX screenings are what pushed Captain over the top. The film also scored an "A" CinemaScore, but still expect something around a 57% drop next weekend as that seems to be the pattern. Nevertheless, Marvel is dominating at the moment, no doubt about it.

Here's a question for you though, will Warner Bros. have to stand up and take note of Captain America's success when it comes to their plans for a May 6, 2016 release of Batman vs. Superman? Right now Captain America 3 is set for the same date and it seems there is quite the audience for the Captain.

In second, Noah suffered a massive 60% drop, bringing in only $17 million as its cume now sits at $72.3 million. Not good. Seems those that brought the CinemaScore down to a "C" were more encouraging than the lofty reviews.

In its third weekend, Divergent dropped 49%, bringing in $13 million as its total has now climbed to $114 million. We will definitely see the sequels to this franchise, but I wonder if they will get any better than this first installment.

Continuing to make news is God's Not Dead, which only dropped 12% this weekend after dropping only 4.5% last weekend. In its third weekend the religion-fueled film added another $7.7 million to its total, which is now up to $32.5 million. Still no word on a budget, however, as far as I've seen, but it couldn't have been much.

The best per theater result this weekend belonged to A24's limited roll out of Brian Grazer's Under the Skin starring Scarlett Johansson in her second new film in release this weekend. In only four theaters the film brought in $140,000 for a $35,000 average.

Next weekend sees a wide swath of films hitting theaters including Cuban Fury, Draft Day, Oculus and Rio 2 among several other limited releases. I expect Rio 2 to be massive, which means we could have an even bigger weekend in seven days.

READER PREDICTION RESULTS

These are the actual weekend results and the weekend's winners are now final.The reader prediction leaderboard has been updated and can be seen here.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

ACTUAL: $95.0 million

TimmaeXVX$95 million prediction / Exactly Right!

Arthur Carlson$95 million prediction / Exactly Right!

Jack Tyler$95 million prediction / Exactly Right!

J T$95.0 million prediction / Exactly Right!

cineJAB$94.9 million prediction / $0.1 million off

God's Not Dead

ACTUAL: $7.7 million

Stringer Bell$7.8 million prediction / $0.1 million off

Alex Thomas$7.6 million prediction / $0.1 million off

PJ Edwards$7.9 million prediction / $0.2 million off

TimmaeXVX$7.5 million prediction / $0.2 million off

Nathan$7.4 million prediction / $0.3 million off

Noah

ACTUAL: $17.0 million

rusty$17.2 million prediction / $0.2 million off

Fredie Fred$17.23 million prediction / $0.23 million off

Corbin$17.3 million prediction / $0.3 million off

Torryz$17.4 million prediction / $0.4 million off

HazardousKirby$16.5 million prediction / $0.5 million off

Divergent

ACTUAL: $12.9 million

Fredie Fred$12.9 million prediction / Exactly Right!

HazardousKirby$12.8 million prediction / $0.1 million off

Truman Leonard$12.8 million prediction / $0.1 million off

Torryz$12.7 million prediction / $0.2 million off

Andrew13$13.1 million prediction / $0.2 million off

SCORING: A total number of five (5) readers win for each movie. The reader with the closest prediction on a movie wins five (5) points, second closest wins four (4) points and so on. In the event of a tie, the winner is determined by the reader that posted his/her prediction first.

For a complete look at the rules and regulations on how to compete click the "Rules & Regulations" tab at the top of the page right here.

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Very happy about Cap 2. I wish it could've cracked $100 million. I really hope one budges in terms of Captain America 3 and Batman vs. Superman. I really am so excited for both films. I'd hate to have them go against each other. I don't think Noah's drop is because of the bad Cinemascore, I just think that it was because of Captain America. Wow again for God's Not Dead. I think I'll watch it one day because of all the success. I don't think Rio 2 will be huge, I kinda forgot the first movie. I'm quite excited for Oculus, the reviews have been good and I think it could surprise at the box office like the Conjuring.

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/profile/Winchester/ Winchester

I guess 'Noah' is going to be affected by the C score more than 'Wolf of Wall Street' was. It might have enough juice left to get over $100 million when all is said and done but it's really going to need the overseas money to work out.

The international growth is where Marvel has really benefitted from 'The Avengers' boost considering Cap 2 has already blasted past the total foreign take of Cap 1 (which was unusually low for a big blockbuster). Given the Marvel films usually play to a multiple of roughly between 2.5 and 3 then it should be on track for around $240 million US give or take a few million either side even if it falls the way they seem to be normally in weekend 2. Something over $550 global million total minimum seems guaranteed which is a huge lift over film 1. It probably can push $600 million as well actually.

That means it's box office will be on par with 'Man of Steel' in a global sense and as Cap 2 has (if I recall) better reviews (and IMO is a more enjoyable film anyway) means Marvel has no reason at this point to blink in the face of WB's counter move a few weeks ago. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

Nice little start for 'Under The Skin' as well.

Kingsley_Zissou

Brian Grazer, Ron Howard's spiky haired friend, was involved with Under the Skin? Between him, director Jonathan Glazer and writer Michael Faber, they're a rhyming team right there.

Bazellis

Where's the prediction results?

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/ Brad Brevet

Small error in the code, fixed now.

Bazellis

Still no points, aarrggghhhh!!!

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/ Brad Brevet

That I have no control over. :)

gbpackertime

Just out of curiosity, why do you conclude that this CinemaScore website has such a big influence on movie-goers?

http://www.twitter.com/GregDinskisk GregDinskisk

It's not that the website has such a big influence so much as that it generalizes word of mouth, basically.

http://www.ropeofsilicon.com/profile/Eric83/ Eric83

Yeah, you have to presume that people who go to a film, especially on its opening weekend, are predisposed to like it. So if a film doesn't get at least a B, it's a sign that the film isn't going to have broad appeal.

I don't think WB has much to worry about. I also think most diehard fans would find time to watch both BatvsSupes & Cap3 on the same weekend. It would be a MONSTER weekend total if both keep that date. Who would come out on top? It's hard to bet against the pairing of Batman and Superman on-screen for the very first time... But like I said, I think most fans would find time to watch both. Personally, I don't think either should move. Competition is a healthy thing. Hopefully it brings out the best in both products.